Everyone wants a laptop that's going to deliver an impressive experience. The only problem is finding one that can do it without bleeding your wallet dry. And while it isn't impossible, it can be a challenge, which is why when a deal this good pops up, it's a great time to take advantage.

People enjoy tuning into platforms like Twitch to watch playthroughs of various video games, especially older and beloved titles. A popular part of this has been Twitch Plays Pokémon, which places the chat audience in control of the game on screen, allowing everyone to simultaneously control movement and more. It was something that went viral among game communities, who were intrigued by the idea of seeing a playthrough of an older game that was so dramatic to watch. Twitch Plays Pokémon led to other spins on the concept, including other types of games for Twitch to play together as a collective. But since the surge in popularity of that, other aspects of livestream gaming have appeared online, including some that utilize AI models to play.

As I've dove further and further into Home Assistant, I've begun to explore other related tools, too. One such tool I've been playing around with is ESPHome, which inspired me to buy a couple of ESP32 boards, a CYD, and a ton of random sensors. As I deemed my CYD experiment a success, I purchased the XIAO 7.5-inch ePaper Panel from Seeed Studio, as I wanted something battery-powered, long-lasting, and different. My experiment has been a massive success, and it's been an incredibly useful addition to my smart home that's enabled me to work more efficiently.

Omni Tools is a browser-based open-source set of creative tools. The range of tools offered has the ability to let you use Omni Tools as a basic Photoshop replacement, edit videos, edit JSON projects, and edit PDFs, among other features. Omni Tools is easy to access from any browser and operating system, and all its tools are completely free to use. There are no limitations from Omni Tools itself, and with the growing number of features in the toolbox, you’ll easily be able to replace your Adobe workflows, especially Adobe Acrobat. Here’s how I’ve used Omni Tools for PDF editing, creation, and more.

Honor has announced the Magic V5, which it says is the thinnest foldable phone in the world right now — though only if you ignore the raised camera module, and only for its white version. The phone launches today in China, but Honor says an international release is coming “soon.”At 8.8mm thick when folded shut, the V5 is indeed impressively thin, and beats the 8.9mm Oppo Find N5. That 0.1mm difference is imperceptible in practice, though a very slight curvature does help Honor’s phone feel a hair thinner than the Oppo. That’s only true for the phone’s “Ivory White” version though, with the other colors very slightly thicker at 9mm, which suggests they’ll use different materials for the final finish.Perhaps more tellingly, you’ve also got to completely ignore the camera. The Magic V5’s triple rear camera module rises almost twice as high as Oppo’s, making the phone feel thicker overall as a result. Superior specs, with higher resolution sensors and faster apertures almost across the board, may justify the extra heft, but it does diminish that “world’s thinnest” claim.When open, the V5’s frame measures 4.1mm, again just beating Oppo’s 4.2mm. It’s worth remembering that neither of these phones are quite as thin as Huawei’s trifold Mate XT when it’s open, dropping to 3.6mm at its thinnest point, a segment that doesn’t have the USB-C port.This battle of the millimeters isn’t new territory for Honor. Before Oppo launched the Find N5 earlier this year, Honor’s Magic V3 was the thinnest foldable on the market. Next week Samsung is expected to reveal a drastically thinner Galaxy Z Fold 7, though it’s likely to be just a little thicker than Honor’s effort. Honor isn’t highlighting it, but the Magic V5 might be the world’s lightest foldable too, or at least seems to share that title with Vivo’s X Fold 5, announced last week — both weigh 217g.If this all sounds like quibbling over a gram here and a fraction of a millimeter there, then that’s because it is. I said back when I reviewed the Oppo Find N5 that it would “mark the start of diminishing returns” for foldable phones, and here we are. Without dropping the USB-C port or adopting an asymmetric design there simply isn’t room for these phones to get meaningfully thinner, so foldable manufacturers are going to have to figure out a new way to generate hype for future launches.Fortunately for Honor, the Magic V5 has strong enough specs to impress regardless. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite powers the phone, together with up to 16GB of RAM and a large 5,820mAh battery. Both screens use 120Hz LTPO OLED panels, there’s wireless charging, and IP58 and IP59 ratings for dust- and water-resistance that’s almost as good as any non-foldable’s.

Several actions have been shuffled to new menus, and images will clearly display where and when they were taken. The Google Photos app has been updated to make it easier to navigate your gallery and view image information. Google says the photo view — the screen that appears when you open an image in Google Photos — has been redesigned to provide a “simpler, more modern, and more intuitive UI” while adding a new light mode, glanceable photo details, and streamlined action menus.These changes are available now for iPhone users, and will be coming to the Google Photos app for Android “soon,” according to Google. The update doesn’t remove any of the previous functionality provided by the app, but some features may have been relocated.The biggest visual change is the introduction of light mode, which will automatically match the photo view background to match your device’s system theme. Information is now also displayed at the top of each photograph that provides the date, time, and location where it was captured. Some pill-shaped “badges” are sometimes located underneath those details that allow users to play or pause a Live or Motion photo, change the photo’s category, save shared images, and manage storage.Several actions can now be found under the three-dot menu at the top right of the photo view, including About, Create, Cast, Save as, Download or Delete from device, and Google Lens. The latter was previously located on the photo view taskbar, and has now been replaced with an “Add to” menu that allows users to archive photos, organize them into albums, or secure them in a locked folder.Lastly, photo stacks and bursts can now be managed via their own three-dot menu, which will appear beside whatever thumbnail is currently selected. Here you’ll find options to change the top image, remove images, unstack, or select multiple photos to take bulk actions.

Over the years, FromSoftware's games have birthed a new Soulsborne genre of its own, through challenging boss fights that have become a part of the studio's legend. And yet, for all the amazing, legendary, and unforgettable bosses that FromSoft has given us, there is one boss that is ever-present, and grows stronger with every release — the camera. In tight corners and behind staircases it lurks, snapping away with a mind of its own, deciding on a whim whether you deserve to see what's about to kill you.

Google's AI-powered research assistant, NotebookLM, is undoubtedly one of the best AI tools for productivity out there. Given that the tool is still fairly new, Google’s constantly rolling out new updates and features to improve it. Just two days ago, a leaked internal memo revealed that a lot of the features NotebookLM's been teasing for a while could arrive any day now.

Banks are facing renewed pressure to protect their customers from scams on Zelle, the payment network owned by JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, and other big banks. In letters to the banks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) asked them how often their customers report Zelle scams that originate from social media.Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase over claims they “rushed” Zelle’s launch in 2017 and failed to protect customers from “widespread fraud,” which resulted in more than $870 million lost to scams. In an attempt to protect its customers, Chase began blocking Zelle payments over social media, where scams often show up, last February. The CFPB dropped its Zelle lawsuit in March after President Donald Trump’s administration began dismantling the agency.“Banks, including JPMorgan Chase, have historically failed to protect consumers from Zelle fraud and scams,” the letters state. “According to the CFPB’s lawsuit, for example, since Zelle was created, the banks that run the payment service have not meaningfully improved their ability to detect and prevent fraud or increased their reimbursements to customers defrauded on Zelle to match the increase in fraud rates.”Without the support of the CFPB, the three lawmakers are now taking matters into their own hands. They asked the banks that own Zelle, which they claim is “associated with significant scams and fraud,” if they have noticed any broader trends of fraud on the payment platform, such as whether they come from social media or another source. The lawmakers are also pressing the banks for their policies on reimbursing customers who fall victim to scams on Zelle and other peer-to-peer payment networks. The banks have until July 14th to respond.“Zelle is leading the fight against scams and fraud and has industry-leading reimbursement policies that go above and beyond the law,” Zelle spokesperson Eric Blankenbaker said in a statement to The Verge. “The misguided attacks by the previous leadership of the CFPB would have emboldened criminals, cost consumers more in fees, stifled small businesses and made it harder for thousands of community banks and credit unions to compete.”Update, July 2nd: Added a statement from Zelle.

10 expansion batteries connected to a single Power 2000 power station for 22kWh of home backup capacity. | Image: DJI After launching its first portable power stations last year, DJI just launched the Power 2000 with double the capacity, more output power, and big scalability. Unlike a fixed Tesla Powerwall solution, DJI’s followup to the Power 1000 I reviewed last year is designed to scale in support of your day-to-day energy needs no matter where you go while also offering the fastest charging times for your DJI drones. For example, you can take the Power 2000 along to a job site or weekend barbecue. Add solar panels and a few expansion batteries for longer car-camping trips or a vanlife summer, and then stack on a few more batteries when you return home to provide hours of home backup during the next blackout emergency.The Power 2000 is built around a 2048Wh LFP battery and 3000W inverter making this a mid-level unit. It comes slathered in ports, including two 140W USB-C, two 65W USB-C, four USB-A, and four AC outputs (the US model swaps one jack for a 30A RV outlet). It also features a pair of DJI’s dongle-loving SDC ports to fast charge DJI drones; add outputs like a 12V socket and inputs for solar panels; or to connect one of DJI’s Super Fast Car Chargers to tap into solar and/or the excess charging capabilities of your car’s alternator. All the ports can be monitored and controlled inside the DJI Home app. For home owners, those proprietary SDC ports can also be used to daisy chain up to ten of DJI’s existing Power Expansion Battery 2000 modules back to the Power 2000. That’s an impressive 10:1 ratio for a power station (most are 2:1 or 6:1 max in this class) for 22kWh of total stored energy capacity. A typical US home consumes about 29.2kWh per day, but not every device is needed during a blackout. Vanlifers require far less capacity and power — I use about 1.6kWh per day in my own van.The Power 2000 can pull up to 2200W from a standard wall jack to charge its internal battery from zero to full in about 75 minutes. It can be charged more slowly at a reasonably quiet 30dB if the noise produced by the internal cooling fans is a concern. In the event of an outage, the Power 2000 features a very fast 0.01 second cutover to act as a UPS for your most sensitive electronics. By building its 22kg / 48.5lb Power 2000 systems around relatively lightweight (16.5kg / 36.4lb) 2kWh expansion modules and off-loading infrequently used interfaces, DJI’s Power 2000 solution should be easier to move around than competing 3kWh battery systems from Anker, Bluetti, EcoFlow, and Jackery. Those devices, however, are more suited to supporting homes, even when those homes have wheels.For example, the Power 2000 lacks a high-amperage output to directly power 12V RV electrical systems, and DJI doesn’t offer a subpanel option that integrates directly into your house’s electrical system to intelligently offset your energy costs. But these are tradeoffs I imagine many will happily make in the name of increased portability so long as they can avoid having to buy too many proprietary SDC dongles (which can easily get lost). And given DJI’s rapid embrace of the category, I wouldn’t be surprised to see those advanced options made available in the future as the company’s Power lineup matures.The DJI Power 2000 is available today starting at $1,299 / €1,399. Maxing out the system with ten expansion batteries will cost close to $10,000.

Which GPU specs should you use to measure performance? This question becomes moot since benchmarks should be your north star when evaluating multiple GPUs. That said, VRAM has been a major point of discussion lately, hence it's important to highlight why it isn't a make-or-break GPU specification, and why there's a better spec that we should be focusing on. I've decided to use memory bandwidth as one of the most important parameters to determine GPU performance, for both gaming and non-gaming workloads.

"How much should you spend on a motherboard?" — perhaps every PC builder has grappled with this question at least once. The thing is, while motherboards don't directly contribute to your PC's performance, you can't simply grab the cheapest one on the market. There's always a balance to be struck, but you shouldn't spend a premium on pointless motherboard features you'll never use. I have my list of needless features that will never justify splurging on an expensive motherboard. So, let's get into it.